Filter housing retention clips made of elastic materials such as spring steel are known and widely used in securing covers to air filter housings and other such housings in motor vehicle applications. Such retention clips are typically pivotally secured onto an air cleaner housing in some fashion and are configured to engage and clamp an air cleaner housing cover to the air cleaner housing body.
Air cleaner housings are typically configured in two separable halves, each which are provided with mating flanges. The air filter element is typically installed into a cavity into the air cleaner housing by separating the housing halves, inserting the filter element, and then securing the housing halves together. One known method of securing air cleaner halves together is with retention clips made of an elastic material as discussed above. Other methods include screws or various known latching devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,643 discloses a retention clamping lock of the knee lever type, usable to clamp a filter cover onto a filter housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,192 discloses a filter housing separable into two housing portions and provided with locking clamps having tension levers operable to retentively clamp the two housing portions together. A filter is installed into a cavity therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,748 discloses an air filter assembly including abutting cylindrical housing halves. The housing halves are joined by T-shaped appendages and a locking mechanism. A filter is installed into a cavity therein.
Filter elements installed into such filter housings are typically provided with a resilient seal member to seal between the filter element and the filter housing. The seal prevents unfiltered air from bypassing the filter element and entering the clean side of the filter housing. Resilient seals are known to resist detaching from the filter housing after they have been installed in the filter housing for a period of time. Elevated operating temperatures can aggravate this condition. If the filter element seal sticks to the housing, the seal can be damaged. Filter seals can also be damaged when improper filter removal techniques are employed, such as prying with a screw driver (for example). Often a filter element needs to be removed for inspection, and then replaced back into the filter housing. Filter seal damage during removal and inspection remains a problem in the art.